The UK government launched the Innovative Finance Savings Account (IFISA) in April. It allows UK consumers to invest up to £15,000 ($20,000) in alternative finance platforms and get tax free returns.

So far, only a handful of platforms have received authorization from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to offer the product, due to regulatory holdups. But for those that have a live product, it has resulted in a significant uptick in business. We spoke to two P2P lenders that offer IFISAs about the impact it's had on their businesses:

Crowd2Fund is a P2P lender that specializes in loans to small businesses. It began offering the IFISA in April and has seen impressive adoption thus far. Funds added to the system have grown by 667%, while new investor registrations have grown by 373%. But founder Chris Hancock says there is still a long way to go in improving consumer awareness of the product.

Crowdstacker is a year-old P2P lender that specializes in loans to businesses. It also began offering the IFISA in April and has seen investment via the platform almost double as a result. Of the total £10 million invested in Crowdstacker, around £5 million ($7 million) was invested through IFISAs. This money came from a combination of new investors and existing investors who invested additional funds via the product. The average amount invested is around £5,000 ($7,000), or a third of the total allowed, and 20% of IFISA owners have invested the full amount.

This suggests that IFISAs are succeeding in driving new capital to P2P lenders, and we believe that the IFISA will be vital to the growth of the UK P2P lending industry over the next couple of years. BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, forecasts that UK P2P lenders will lend £16 billion ($21 billion) in 2020.

P2P lending has seen a rash of negative press following the high-profile resignation of Lending Club's CEO Renaud Laplanche, but that's just a minor hurdle for this exciting new industry.

Sarah Kocianski, senior research analyst for BI Intelligence, has compiled a detailed report on the U.K. P2P market that forecasts consumer, business, and property P2P lending volume in the U.K., what's driving the growth, and how unique features of the market will insulate it from the problems seen in the U.S. market.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

Property lending will make up the largest share of P2P activity in the UK in 2020, followed by business lending and consumer loans.

Traditional lenders will reclaim some P2P lending volume by building or acquiring the technologies that are proving successful.

While the general concept of P2P lending is the same, there are major differences between the UK and US P2P lending markets.

In full, the report:

Forecasts the volume of loans UK P2P lenders will make by 2020.

Highlights the factors that will drive the growth of P2P lenders.

Explains the differences between the UK and US P2P lending markets.

Details the outlook for P2P lenders in the UK.

Interested in getting the full report? Here are two ways to access it:

Subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and over 100 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >> START A MEMBERSHIP

Purchase & download the full report from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT